Fifth Grade

Curriculum Overview

Mathematics

Our math series allows students review, maintain, and build upon previously learned skills. The program provides explicit instruction of new content and vocabulary. It promotes cumulative learning and conceptual understanding. Fractions and decimals continue to be the chief concern of arithmetic study in the fifth grade.

The following are some areas of Mathematics that the fifth graders will master, insha Allah:

explain and justify solutions and strategies used orally and in writing

identify and evaluate various approaches to problems, choose one and solve problem; create word problems

Language Arts

The Language Arts program will focus on four strands: reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and mechanics. The fifth graders will read five main novels and will complete a poetry unit. Our series allows students to learn spelling skills based on phonics through unique, cross-curricular reading passages, practice, and writing activities. Our language arts program provides students with instruction in grammar and mechanics, study skills, vocabulary development, and sentence structure

Students will be expected to meet the following expectations:

use various word analysis strategies to read unknown words in context

recall important details from a story

extract the main idea or theme from a text

use prior knowledge, experience, and context to make predictions and draw conclusions or inferences from reading

read critically

consult a variety of reading and reference material to get information

distinguish among literary forms and genres

demonstrate interest in independent reading for knowledge and enjoyment

write a well-planned and interesting text with sufficient detail

write for a variety of purposes and audiences: compose in expository, narrative, and descriptive and persuasive styles

use a variety of organizing strategies such as webs, story maps, note-taking, outlining

persevere throughout the writing process

edit own and other’s work for quality of expression, paragraphing, grammar, punctuation, and spelling

recite and read aloud poetry or selections from literature with fluency and expression

participate effectively in group discussions; express thoughts and ideas clearly and concisely

History

History has had until now only a pictorial and personal nature, and no attempt has been made to introduce exact temporal concepts or to proceed in strict sequences. Now, however, history becomes a special main lesson subject, as does geography. History, telling of humanity’s deeds and strivings, stirs the child to a more intense experience of their own humanness. Geography does exactly the opposite; it leads them away from themselves, out into ever-wider spaces from the familiar to the unfamiliar. History brings the children to themselves; geography brings the children into the world.

Ancient history in the fifth grade starts with the childhood of civilized humanity in ancient India, where people were dreamers. The ancient Persian culture, which followed the Indian, felt the impulse to transform the earth, till the soil, and domesticate animals while helping the sun god conquer the spirits of darkness.

The great cultures of Mesopotamia reveal the origins of written language on clay tablets. The Egyptian civilizations of pyramids and pharaohs precede the civilization of the Greeks with whom ancient history ends.

Every means is used to give the children a vivid impression of these five ancient cultures. They read translations of poetry, study hieroglyphic symbols of the Egyptians, sample arts and crafts of the various ancient peoples, trying their hands at similar creations. History is here an education of the children’s feelings rather than of their memory for facts and figures, for it requires inner mobility to enter sympathetically into these ancient states of being so different from our own.

A study of American geography emphasizes contrast. Every consideration of the earth’s physical features is linked with a study of the way human life has been lived in the region: the human uses made of natural resources, industry and produce. As a continuation of their study of the living earth, the fifth graders begin a study of botany, the plant world. After discovering some of the secrets of the plant life found in their own environment, the children’s attention is drawn to vegetation in other parts of the world.

Science

Scientific Process Skills

work individually and as a team member to collect and share information

conduct investigations to test a hypothesis and record results; begin to control variables in an experimental situation

predict probable outcomes; use facts to support conclusions

communicate scientific information in various ways through written materials, pictures, graphs, charts, or models

Encounter the big ideas of Life, Physical, and Earth Sciences through participation in classroom study of Human Body Systems, Mixtures and Solutions, and Solar Energy

a mixture combines two or more materials that retain their own properties

a saturated solution results when a solvent has dissolved as much material as it can

concentration is the amount of material dissolved in a measure of liquid

volume is the three-dimensional space occupied by liquid

when a change results from mixing two or more materials, that change is a chemical reaction creating a new product

Qur’an

Fifth graders will begin memorization of the Qur’an with Sura Al-Mohammad and continue to Sura Yasin . They will inshaAllah memorize both of these beautiful Suras and learn many of the stories and lessons they contain.

Arabic

Arabic in the fifth grade consists of four main components as in the other grades; oral language, reading, writing, and poetry. Students at this level will continue to learn more about the environment that they live in through selected monthly themes and lessons. They will learn to communicate in Arabic, learn fluency in reading, word roots, handwriting, and memorize and learn Arabic poems.

Islamic Studies

The Islamic Studies program will be comprised of a review of the basics of Islam. The five pillars and articles of faith will be explored in concrete detail. Also the character and proper behavior of a Muslim will be the focus of our attention. All students will study the introduction of the book of Al-Akhdari, which is an excellent overview of the aforementioned content. The Birr al-Walidayn text will also be introduced.

All students will also study the obligations and sunnan of the purification and the prayer.

All students will study the life of the Prophet (SAW). They will also learn various ahadith from the Forty Hadith of Imam Nawawi.